Mr Wills, a skilled linguist who had worked for MI5 as a Russian interpreter before teaching for years in Wallace and Stirling High, was killed by the impact which broke his neck, crushed his spinal cord and shattered his ribs.

Hamilton, from Bonnybridge, appeared for sentence at the High Court in Stirling on Tuesday.

Following the verdict, Mrs Wills said: “We couldn’t go to the court and glory in the sentencing. My husband is gone now and that’s it as far as we are concerned.

“I feel sorry for him (Hamilton) and his family. Almost anyone could have an accident of this kind or make a mistake. We greatly regret what this has done to him and his family.

“My husband was known and loved, not just in this area but around the world. And we have received messages from so many people who knew him.

“We are also very grateful to the Observer for carrying such a lovely article about him the other week. We know so many people have wonderful memories of him.

“We celebrated his life on the isle of Barra, and didn’t really look beyond that.

“But if something good can come out of this, it’s that Stirling Council is now fitting their trucks with sensors. This might well save a life.”

A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “This was a tragic situation and our thoughts have been, and remain with, Mr Wills’ family and friends.

“We have robust health and safety policies in place for our refuse vehicles and all of our drivers receive training for this and are expected to fully comply with them.

“Our vehicles have reversing sensors and comply with the recommendations following the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the Glasgow bin lorry incident.

“We are specifying the new refuse collection vehicles for Stirling Council have camera recorders fitted.”

He said: “Mr Wills enjoyed the freedom his motorised wheelchair gave him. Almost every day in life he was out and about on country roads near his home.

“By your actions, you have caused his death, and the end of a marriage which his widow said was ‘paradise’.

“That is something you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life.

“You were aware that Mr Wills was somewhere on the road behind you, as you had passed him a couple of minutes previously. You failed to have proper regard to Mr Wills as a particularly vulnerable road user.”

The incident happened around mid-morning on December 3, 2014, on a single track road, yards from the 18th century former drovers’ inn where Mr Wills lived with his wife of 50 years, Virginia. The couple ran an antiquarian bookshop in Bridge of Allan for 15 years, and he had personally restored their property before his stroke eight years earlier robbed him of speech and partially paralysed him.

Investigators found furrows on the tarmac which indicated the wheelchair had been pushed backwards for three-quarters of a metre, before it was overturned and crushed.

The rear view was restricted by the width and height of the vehicle, and the view from the door mirrors was “further compromised” by the fact that the back of the lorry was facing slightly uphill, so Mr Wills would have been completely in the driver’s blind spot.

Hamilton had signed off training documents only nine months earlier which advised council drivers to “reduce reversing manoeuvres wherever possible, only reverse when safe to do so, and exercise extreme caution”.

The incident happened three weeks before the Glasgow bin lorry tragedy which left six dead and 15 injured.

Hamilton’s lawyer, solicitor-advocate George Pollock, said: “It was a mistake made while trying to be polite.”

He said Hamilton, a first offender and carer for his elderly mother, had lost his job as a result. Since the tragedy, Stirling Council recycling lorries have been fitted with reversing sensors.